Chapter 21: Race for the Legacy
"Are you ready Zel?" Lina inquired as she donned her cloak and buckled her sword belt in place. He barely heard her as he watched the horizon for any sign of the priest.
"Not yet."
"If we don't get moving Eris will beat us there."
"She can't. We've got the sword of light remember? And I'm not going anywhere without Jaylin." Lina snorted.
"Who knows where she could be. Knowing that priest they won't be back until he's good and ready to return."
"They'll be here shortly. He said sunrise." She shrugged, squinting to see if she could spot them against the sudden light.
"Sunrise for him could mean a hundred of different things." Zel felt his hand clench, but it wasn't for Lina. It was because Lina was right. If he didn't need the knowledge that the priest possessed so badly, Xellos would have been dead a long time ago. Dust sifted from his fingers without him realizing.
"Zel?" A hesitant hand on his arm brought him from his frustration. As soon as she saw that she had his attention, Lina stepped away, genuine fear in her scarlet eyes. "They'll catch up." He considered her blankly, seeing out of the corner of his eye Gourry and Amelia stumbling out into the early morning. "Hating him won't do us a bit of good." He gave her a half smile, watching her shudder at the coldness of it.
"True enough," he muttered while staring at Amelia. "Though I still wish that you would order her to stay here." Lina glanced over her shoulder to see who Zel had changed the subject for. When she turned back, her eyes had gone stern.
"She's a person, Zel, not a slave. I can't order her to do anything. Besides, she's just as strong in white magic as I am in black. We may have use of her."
"A battlefield is no place for a princess."
"What do you have against her anyway? It's not like she's been such a burden on you." The topic of the argument adjusted her attention from the well behind the shack where she had been washing her face to look at the pair as their voices rose.
"Never ask me my reasons."
"What's that all about? You sound just like Xellos." The demon third took over him completely, and his sword was out before he even noticed what was happening. Amelia gasped and took a step forward even as Lina took one back, her own blade at the ready.
"Zelgadis! Lina! We must hurry!" The Mysterious Priest suddenly shimmered into sight between the two, breaking off their argument. For a moment Zel thought of attack, but when he saw the blood covering Xellos' face and how he hunched his shoulders, he thought better of it. Something had happened, and he wasn't going to like it at all. Clutching a hand to his head, Xellos sank to his knees, the other hand gripping the staff which glowed bright crimson.
"Where's Jaylin?" Zel demanded immediately kneeling before the priest and taking hold of his shoulders. The cleric raised his eyes to look at the chimera.
"Taken," he stuttered, losing all of the cool confidence he had always seemed to possess. "She's been taken. That's why we must hurry."
"Taken by whom?" Lina asked intently before Zelgadis had the chance.
"The copy Rezo." He struggled to his feet with the help of Zelgadis and the staff.
"Where? What use has he for her?" Zel had to shake the priest and repeat the question before he was ready to answer. Even then it wasn't what Zel expected.
"We have no time. They'll already be there by the time we reach them. The Towerwest, hurry! He's going to use her to break into the Towerwest since he can't do it himself as he's not gained his full power yet. You've got to hurry or he'll reach the legacy first and we'll all be doomed!" Although Zel was confused on how Jaylin would enable the Red Priest to gain access to the laboratory, the urgency in Xellos' voice told him that it didn't really matter much.
"What about you?" Amelia questioned.
"Never mind about me. I'm no use to anyone right now. I shall catch up to you when I can. Just go, quickly! And Zelgadis?" The chimera stopped short and turned back to give the priest his attention. "I'm sorry." He grunted at the apology.
"She had better be alive when I find her, Priest. That's all I have to say." Exchanging a look with Lina, he began to run. They all ran, holding scabbards out of the way and each praying that they would reach the Towerwest in time.
"Lord Rezo," Eris cried running up to him as he appeared at Towerwest carrying an unconscious Meleyal in his arms. When she had found him missing, she had panicked, but Berihn had convinced her that he would be fine on his own and would return shortly. They had decided to carry on with the plan of following Zelgadis and his company into the sealed laboratory so they were waiting by the entrance for them to come.
"Eris," Rezo said in a voice that carried the tone of importance. "We must hurry. The Fire Lord knows what we plan and will try to stop us. Come if you wish your vengeance."
"But Lord Rezo, we cannot get in without the sword of light." With a smirk the copy Rezo shook Meleyal awake roughly, keeping a hand on her shoulder so she couldn't run away. She gazed about herself in confusion first followed by fear and rage.
"She shall remedy that. Follow me." Pushing the slave before him, he led the way into the Towerwest where the sealed double doors had lain untouched for years. Berihn and Eris followed slowly, Mestronia's master keeping a hand on his hilt and the other around his former slave.
"Your creation has lost his mind, I believe," he whispered to her as they stepped into the cool darkness of the building.
"No," she replied, shaking her head. "He knows what he is about. It is for us not to question his ways." Rezo placed Meleyal before the doors, keeping one hand gripped at her shoulder, he put the other on her back. Berihn and Eris watched in wonder as he whispered the words of a spell. His hand began to glow blood red and Meleyal stiffened, her eyes rolling back in her head and her mouth opening in a silent scream.
"E'raan of southern soil, I call the power of autumn's hand. Combine your destroying force with me so our magics together will stand," he muttered a few more words after this, but Eris did not hear them as she was still trying to figure out the first spell. Blinding light shot forth from Rezo's fingers, right through Meleyal and splashed against the stone of the doors. A loud grating sound filled the room as the rock parted revealing a staircase. Satisfied, Rezo removed his hand from Meleyal and she crumpled to the floor in a swoon. With a smirk, the Red Priest stepped over the unconscious girl and down the stairs with Eris following quickly after carrying a flickering lantern.
Berihn, however, knelt at Meleyal's side, cradling her head in the crook of his arm and looking at her pain worn face. Her body convulsed with the aftermath of the spell that had been sent through her, almost making him weep to see it. Her eyes opened when he brushed her hair away from her face, gazing up at him curiously.
"Master," she murmured in a trembling voice.
"I'm so sorry, Meleyal," he whispered. "I had no idea it would turn out so badly for us."
"Berihn," Eris' voice called up at him from the tunnel. "Are you coming?" He looked down at her for a moment, licking his lips, then gazed again at Meleyal.
"No," he decided. "I will guard the entrance against our enemies."
"Very well then." The light of the lantern bobbed down and farther down until he lost sight of it completely. He bit his lip against the tears that stung his eyes, but he was unable to quell the feeling that he had lost her forever.
"Is your master coming?" He dragged himself from his dismal thoughts to the present situation.
"I don't know," Meleyal stuttered, trying to keep her eyes focused. "You. .don't mean to . . .fight him. . .do you?"
"No," he shook his head. "I just pray that he will accept my help after all I've done."
"Help? But. ."
"I've been foolish, Meleyal. I've been blinded by a love that was not returned, but I truly had no idea I was fighting for the wrong cause."
"It was not your fault. She has been fooled as well."
"What do you mean?" Her body tensed and she curled into a ball of pain, unable to answer. At the same time, a grating sound echoed throughout the entrance chamber. Lifting Meleyal, Berihn stood to consider the stairway, which was closing once again. Of course Rezo, the original one, would have put a spell on it to seal it back up again once it had been opened. Once the doors had closed again, Meleyal whispered:
"You're too late." He took her outside into the warm summer morning to question her again what she meant by her strange words.
"You cannot save her now," she stuttered, her eyes closing. "Eris may have created him, but it is Rezo who is in control here." Shocked, Berihn gave one last glance inside the Towerwest, then allowed himself to weep.
"There!" Lina shouted, pointing ahead as the tower came into view. Before they reached their destination, they slowed to a wary walk, searching about themselves for any traps that the copy Rezo might have set for them.
"It doesn't look like they've even been here yet," Amelia pointed out the double doors, apparently still sealed up tightly.
"So it would seem," Lina agreed, staring up at the ceiling and into the shadows of the entry.
"You're wrong," came a voice from behind them. Zelgadis pivoted quickly, Jaylin's sword already in his hand. Berihn stood in the doorway, his hands raised defensively. It was Berihn, but he seemed to have aged much in the short time since Zelgadis had seen him last. His hair was streaked with gray, his face becoming wrinkled and care worn, and his eyes were red as if he had been crying.
"What do you know of it?" Zelgadis growled, stepping forward menacingly even as Berihn stepped back.
"Peace!" he cried. "You have every cause to doubt me, but I tell the truth when I say I want no part of Eris or her dark lord either."
"Where are they? Why did they leave you behind? Answer me quick now, or lose your power of speech altogether." He had the Plainsman backed into a wall now. The chimera's eyes raged as he restrained himself from doing him any harm.
"Zel! Be easy," Lina snapped, but didn't get in his way.
"They've gone into the laboratory. We must hurry if we are to catch them."
"Where's Jaylin?" Confusion flashed across Berihn's eyes. "My slave! The one you yourself gave to me." He was on the verge of a threat that he had every intention of carrying out when Mestronia's master finally found his voice again.
"Meleyal lies there." With a shaking hand, he gestured toward the shadows under the stairway that led to the upper chambers of the Towerwest. "It was Rezo's doing," he added as if afraid of what Zel would do to him when he saw her condition.
Growling, the chimera left Berihn against the wall to see exactly why Jaylin was under the staircase. He found her curled into a ball, seemingly asleep and trembling slightly.
"Jaylin," he brushed a stone finger along her cheek gently to wake her. "What's happened?" Her eyes opened and she stared at him without recognition for a moment, fingering the bruise in her forehead. "Are you injured?"
"No." She pushed herself into a sitting position, but Zel noticed that she seemed much weaker than when she had left him the night before.
"What was done to you?" She looked as though she wanted to tell him, badly in fact, but she only bit her lip and shook her head. "What was done?" He demanded again, this time over his shoulder to Berihn.
"I'm not sure, lord," he replied, taking a step forward. If Zel noticed the appellation that implied Berihn's wish for Zel to become his master, there was no indication. "It seemed that Rezo sent a spell of some kind through her body to open the doors." Zel's brow furrowed in confusion. Why would he need to do such a thing? Perhaps he had used Jaylin's life force as an amplifier? It didn't seem a very plausible explanation as it had never been tested before. And why use Jaylin? Why not someone else? Eris herself even? Or Berihn? Xellos knew, he had as good as said it when he had warned them to hurry, but Zel couldn't sort it out.
"Why her?" He asked out loud, though he received no answer. "What does everyone want with you?" Cupping her face, he stood to find the reasons for everything.
"Amelia," he called the young girl to him. She jumped to his side without a word. "I want you to stay with Jaylin and keep her safe."
"Zel, I'm going with you," Jaylin protested, getting shakily to her feet.
"You'll be of no use to us the way you are now," he argued coldly and regretted it as soon as he saw her shocked and hurt expression. "Besides," he added a bit more gently. "I would feel much better if you would stay where it is safe this time." Amelia slipped next to the silver haired slave girl, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"I'll keep her safe, Zelgadis-sama," she promised, giving her charge a slight smile. Pouting, Jaylin dropped her head in obedience. Zel nodded and turned to the others waiting patiently behind him.
"As for you," he pointed at Berihn, who hovered close to the door. "You're coming with us. Perhaps Eris still feels enough for you to ransom your life in return for the legacy should it come to that."
"I'll be of no use to you in that sense, for she feels nothing for me. Rather, let me fight with you." Zel snorted, gesturing for Gourry to unsheathe the sword of light. Lina glared at him, but he paid her no attention.
"Please, lord," Berihn begged. "All I've done has been for love, though it was all a mistake. Surely, you of all people should understand what it is like to suffer for love. Let me fight for you and in that way avenge for what has been done to her as well as atone for
what I have done to you."
"Do as you like. I shall do nothing to prevent you."
"I ask for nothing more than that." Nodding, Zel looked to Gourry, who stood poised and ready to strike the doors.
"Come, they know where they are going where we do not. We've already lost too much time." With a great cry, the blonde swordsman slashed at the seal covering the doors and it shattered with a loud grating sound. A dark staircase was revealed, opening all of Rezo's secrets. Calling a ball of light to rest upon her palm, Lina took Gourry by the elbow and together they made their way down the stone steps. Berihn glanced uneasily at Zel before ducking after them.
"Zelgadis," the call stopped him before he joined his companions. Jaylin held her hand out to him in farewell. "Be careful. He's more powerful than the original Rezo ever was."
"Don't worry. We'll be on guard." With a final wave and look to Amelia he hurried down to meet with the others. Above him the double doors slid closed once more, and the only light was that of the tiny ball floating above Lina's trembling palm. She looked at him, fear dancing in the crimson of her eyes.
"Do you think that's true?" She demanded, glancing off into the darkness and then at the doors above them.
"That what is true?"
"This Rezo is more powerful than the other."
"Let's pray that it isn't." Summoning his own flare, he led the procession into the labyrinth of stone that contained the extent of Rezo's knowledge, wondering if he would ever find his way out to the sun again.
"Are you ready Zel?" Lina inquired as she donned her cloak and buckled her sword belt in place. He barely heard her as he watched the horizon for any sign of the priest.
"Not yet."
"If we don't get moving Eris will beat us there."
"She can't. We've got the sword of light remember? And I'm not going anywhere without Jaylin." Lina snorted.
"Who knows where she could be. Knowing that priest they won't be back until he's good and ready to return."
"They'll be here shortly. He said sunrise." She shrugged, squinting to see if she could spot them against the sudden light.
"Sunrise for him could mean a hundred of different things." Zel felt his hand clench, but it wasn't for Lina. It was because Lina was right. If he didn't need the knowledge that the priest possessed so badly, Xellos would have been dead a long time ago. Dust sifted from his fingers without him realizing.
"Zel?" A hesitant hand on his arm brought him from his frustration. As soon as she saw that she had his attention, Lina stepped away, genuine fear in her scarlet eyes. "They'll catch up." He considered her blankly, seeing out of the corner of his eye Gourry and Amelia stumbling out into the early morning. "Hating him won't do us a bit of good." He gave her a half smile, watching her shudder at the coldness of it.
"True enough," he muttered while staring at Amelia. "Though I still wish that you would order her to stay here." Lina glanced over her shoulder to see who Zel had changed the subject for. When she turned back, her eyes had gone stern.
"She's a person, Zel, not a slave. I can't order her to do anything. Besides, she's just as strong in white magic as I am in black. We may have use of her."
"A battlefield is no place for a princess."
"What do you have against her anyway? It's not like she's been such a burden on you." The topic of the argument adjusted her attention from the well behind the shack where she had been washing her face to look at the pair as their voices rose.
"Never ask me my reasons."
"What's that all about? You sound just like Xellos." The demon third took over him completely, and his sword was out before he even noticed what was happening. Amelia gasped and took a step forward even as Lina took one back, her own blade at the ready.
"Zelgadis! Lina! We must hurry!" The Mysterious Priest suddenly shimmered into sight between the two, breaking off their argument. For a moment Zel thought of attack, but when he saw the blood covering Xellos' face and how he hunched his shoulders, he thought better of it. Something had happened, and he wasn't going to like it at all. Clutching a hand to his head, Xellos sank to his knees, the other hand gripping the staff which glowed bright crimson.
"Where's Jaylin?" Zel demanded immediately kneeling before the priest and taking hold of his shoulders. The cleric raised his eyes to look at the chimera.
"Taken," he stuttered, losing all of the cool confidence he had always seemed to possess. "She's been taken. That's why we must hurry."
"Taken by whom?" Lina asked intently before Zelgadis had the chance.
"The copy Rezo." He struggled to his feet with the help of Zelgadis and the staff.
"Where? What use has he for her?" Zel had to shake the priest and repeat the question before he was ready to answer. Even then it wasn't what Zel expected.
"We have no time. They'll already be there by the time we reach them. The Towerwest, hurry! He's going to use her to break into the Towerwest since he can't do it himself as he's not gained his full power yet. You've got to hurry or he'll reach the legacy first and we'll all be doomed!" Although Zel was confused on how Jaylin would enable the Red Priest to gain access to the laboratory, the urgency in Xellos' voice told him that it didn't really matter much.
"What about you?" Amelia questioned.
"Never mind about me. I'm no use to anyone right now. I shall catch up to you when I can. Just go, quickly! And Zelgadis?" The chimera stopped short and turned back to give the priest his attention. "I'm sorry." He grunted at the apology.
"She had better be alive when I find her, Priest. That's all I have to say." Exchanging a look with Lina, he began to run. They all ran, holding scabbards out of the way and each praying that they would reach the Towerwest in time.
"Lord Rezo," Eris cried running up to him as he appeared at Towerwest carrying an unconscious Meleyal in his arms. When she had found him missing, she had panicked, but Berihn had convinced her that he would be fine on his own and would return shortly. They had decided to carry on with the plan of following Zelgadis and his company into the sealed laboratory so they were waiting by the entrance for them to come.
"Eris," Rezo said in a voice that carried the tone of importance. "We must hurry. The Fire Lord knows what we plan and will try to stop us. Come if you wish your vengeance."
"But Lord Rezo, we cannot get in without the sword of light." With a smirk the copy Rezo shook Meleyal awake roughly, keeping a hand on her shoulder so she couldn't run away. She gazed about herself in confusion first followed by fear and rage.
"She shall remedy that. Follow me." Pushing the slave before him, he led the way into the Towerwest where the sealed double doors had lain untouched for years. Berihn and Eris followed slowly, Mestronia's master keeping a hand on his hilt and the other around his former slave.
"Your creation has lost his mind, I believe," he whispered to her as they stepped into the cool darkness of the building.
"No," she replied, shaking her head. "He knows what he is about. It is for us not to question his ways." Rezo placed Meleyal before the doors, keeping one hand gripped at her shoulder, he put the other on her back. Berihn and Eris watched in wonder as he whispered the words of a spell. His hand began to glow blood red and Meleyal stiffened, her eyes rolling back in her head and her mouth opening in a silent scream.
"E'raan of southern soil, I call the power of autumn's hand. Combine your destroying force with me so our magics together will stand," he muttered a few more words after this, but Eris did not hear them as she was still trying to figure out the first spell. Blinding light shot forth from Rezo's fingers, right through Meleyal and splashed against the stone of the doors. A loud grating sound filled the room as the rock parted revealing a staircase. Satisfied, Rezo removed his hand from Meleyal and she crumpled to the floor in a swoon. With a smirk, the Red Priest stepped over the unconscious girl and down the stairs with Eris following quickly after carrying a flickering lantern.
Berihn, however, knelt at Meleyal's side, cradling her head in the crook of his arm and looking at her pain worn face. Her body convulsed with the aftermath of the spell that had been sent through her, almost making him weep to see it. Her eyes opened when he brushed her hair away from her face, gazing up at him curiously.
"Master," she murmured in a trembling voice.
"I'm so sorry, Meleyal," he whispered. "I had no idea it would turn out so badly for us."
"Berihn," Eris' voice called up at him from the tunnel. "Are you coming?" He looked down at her for a moment, licking his lips, then gazed again at Meleyal.
"No," he decided. "I will guard the entrance against our enemies."
"Very well then." The light of the lantern bobbed down and farther down until he lost sight of it completely. He bit his lip against the tears that stung his eyes, but he was unable to quell the feeling that he had lost her forever.
"Is your master coming?" He dragged himself from his dismal thoughts to the present situation.
"I don't know," Meleyal stuttered, trying to keep her eyes focused. "You. .don't mean to . . .fight him. . .do you?"
"No," he shook his head. "I just pray that he will accept my help after all I've done."
"Help? But. ."
"I've been foolish, Meleyal. I've been blinded by a love that was not returned, but I truly had no idea I was fighting for the wrong cause."
"It was not your fault. She has been fooled as well."
"What do you mean?" Her body tensed and she curled into a ball of pain, unable to answer. At the same time, a grating sound echoed throughout the entrance chamber. Lifting Meleyal, Berihn stood to consider the stairway, which was closing once again. Of course Rezo, the original one, would have put a spell on it to seal it back up again once it had been opened. Once the doors had closed again, Meleyal whispered:
"You're too late." He took her outside into the warm summer morning to question her again what she meant by her strange words.
"You cannot save her now," she stuttered, her eyes closing. "Eris may have created him, but it is Rezo who is in control here." Shocked, Berihn gave one last glance inside the Towerwest, then allowed himself to weep.
"There!" Lina shouted, pointing ahead as the tower came into view. Before they reached their destination, they slowed to a wary walk, searching about themselves for any traps that the copy Rezo might have set for them.
"It doesn't look like they've even been here yet," Amelia pointed out the double doors, apparently still sealed up tightly.
"So it would seem," Lina agreed, staring up at the ceiling and into the shadows of the entry.
"You're wrong," came a voice from behind them. Zelgadis pivoted quickly, Jaylin's sword already in his hand. Berihn stood in the doorway, his hands raised defensively. It was Berihn, but he seemed to have aged much in the short time since Zelgadis had seen him last. His hair was streaked with gray, his face becoming wrinkled and care worn, and his eyes were red as if he had been crying.
"What do you know of it?" Zelgadis growled, stepping forward menacingly even as Berihn stepped back.
"Peace!" he cried. "You have every cause to doubt me, but I tell the truth when I say I want no part of Eris or her dark lord either."
"Where are they? Why did they leave you behind? Answer me quick now, or lose your power of speech altogether." He had the Plainsman backed into a wall now. The chimera's eyes raged as he restrained himself from doing him any harm.
"Zel! Be easy," Lina snapped, but didn't get in his way.
"They've gone into the laboratory. We must hurry if we are to catch them."
"Where's Jaylin?" Confusion flashed across Berihn's eyes. "My slave! The one you yourself gave to me." He was on the verge of a threat that he had every intention of carrying out when Mestronia's master finally found his voice again.
"Meleyal lies there." With a shaking hand, he gestured toward the shadows under the stairway that led to the upper chambers of the Towerwest. "It was Rezo's doing," he added as if afraid of what Zel would do to him when he saw her condition.
Growling, the chimera left Berihn against the wall to see exactly why Jaylin was under the staircase. He found her curled into a ball, seemingly asleep and trembling slightly.
"Jaylin," he brushed a stone finger along her cheek gently to wake her. "What's happened?" Her eyes opened and she stared at him without recognition for a moment, fingering the bruise in her forehead. "Are you injured?"
"No." She pushed herself into a sitting position, but Zel noticed that she seemed much weaker than when she had left him the night before.
"What was done to you?" She looked as though she wanted to tell him, badly in fact, but she only bit her lip and shook her head. "What was done?" He demanded again, this time over his shoulder to Berihn.
"I'm not sure, lord," he replied, taking a step forward. If Zel noticed the appellation that implied Berihn's wish for Zel to become his master, there was no indication. "It seemed that Rezo sent a spell of some kind through her body to open the doors." Zel's brow furrowed in confusion. Why would he need to do such a thing? Perhaps he had used Jaylin's life force as an amplifier? It didn't seem a very plausible explanation as it had never been tested before. And why use Jaylin? Why not someone else? Eris herself even? Or Berihn? Xellos knew, he had as good as said it when he had warned them to hurry, but Zel couldn't sort it out.
"Why her?" He asked out loud, though he received no answer. "What does everyone want with you?" Cupping her face, he stood to find the reasons for everything.
"Amelia," he called the young girl to him. She jumped to his side without a word. "I want you to stay with Jaylin and keep her safe."
"Zel, I'm going with you," Jaylin protested, getting shakily to her feet.
"You'll be of no use to us the way you are now," he argued coldly and regretted it as soon as he saw her shocked and hurt expression. "Besides," he added a bit more gently. "I would feel much better if you would stay where it is safe this time." Amelia slipped next to the silver haired slave girl, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"I'll keep her safe, Zelgadis-sama," she promised, giving her charge a slight smile. Pouting, Jaylin dropped her head in obedience. Zel nodded and turned to the others waiting patiently behind him.
"As for you," he pointed at Berihn, who hovered close to the door. "You're coming with us. Perhaps Eris still feels enough for you to ransom your life in return for the legacy should it come to that."
"I'll be of no use to you in that sense, for she feels nothing for me. Rather, let me fight with you." Zel snorted, gesturing for Gourry to unsheathe the sword of light. Lina glared at him, but he paid her no attention.
"Please, lord," Berihn begged. "All I've done has been for love, though it was all a mistake. Surely, you of all people should understand what it is like to suffer for love. Let me fight for you and in that way avenge for what has been done to her as well as atone for
what I have done to you."
"Do as you like. I shall do nothing to prevent you."
"I ask for nothing more than that." Nodding, Zel looked to Gourry, who stood poised and ready to strike the doors.
"Come, they know where they are going where we do not. We've already lost too much time." With a great cry, the blonde swordsman slashed at the seal covering the doors and it shattered with a loud grating sound. A dark staircase was revealed, opening all of Rezo's secrets. Calling a ball of light to rest upon her palm, Lina took Gourry by the elbow and together they made their way down the stone steps. Berihn glanced uneasily at Zel before ducking after them.
"Zelgadis," the call stopped him before he joined his companions. Jaylin held her hand out to him in farewell. "Be careful. He's more powerful than the original Rezo ever was."
"Don't worry. We'll be on guard." With a final wave and look to Amelia he hurried down to meet with the others. Above him the double doors slid closed once more, and the only light was that of the tiny ball floating above Lina's trembling palm. She looked at him, fear dancing in the crimson of her eyes.
"Do you think that's true?" She demanded, glancing off into the darkness and then at the doors above them.
"That what is true?"
"This Rezo is more powerful than the other."
"Let's pray that it isn't." Summoning his own flare, he led the procession into the labyrinth of stone that contained the extent of Rezo's knowledge, wondering if he would ever find his way out to the sun again.